From Gate to Plate

On Tuesday, Brennan and I traveled west to Owensboro to enjoy a meal and panel discussion concerning both sides of the plate, the farmers that grow food and the people that eat the food. Our friend Suzanne helped with the event and provided insight to the audience concerning her produce farm. You can read about her and her family here. As she told the audience, she is a former high school math teacher. She wants facts, not fluff, when it comes to all aspects of life, especially concerning food. Suzanne is fantastic conversing with consumers. It helps that she is just as beautiful on the inside as she is the outside. Plus, her humor, well, let me just show you:

Never ask Suze to hold your camera. Or do for later laughs.

All kidding aside, it is important to me to keep this blog lighthearted. There’s enough sass and scare tactics surrounding our food system now. However, I was reminded Tuesday night that all sides of the plate are equally important. We all have choices to make when it comes to feeding ourselves and our families. We should all be making the best choices we can. We all have preferences…and there lies the beauty. I love the picture my friend Sam painted. He compared food production to grapes. Those small, round fruits of sweetness hold so much potential. The diversification of the grape markets are similar to the choices we as farmers can provide for our products. Grapes commodities are limitless. We get to choose table grapes, juice, wine, raisins, frozen, and the list continues. In the case of production choices, we get to choose conventional, organic, natural, vegan, and the list continues as well. It’s such an exciting time to be in agriculture, let alone an exciting time to eat. I hope we soon cease the bickering and learn to truly appreciate the story of food, from gate to plate, myself included.